Christian Social Thought

Is participating in government a duty or a sin? When Christians have asked how they should engage the public square, Protestant leaders’ responses have run the gamut from complete separation (because “this world is not my home”) to the belief that government service is “the most sacred, and by far the most honorable, of all stations in mortal life.” How should Bible-believing Christians look at their competing views? Continue Reading...

Despite the negative stereotypes, says Robert Woodberry, missionaries have effectively improved health, education, economic development, and political representation around the world—seemingly more effectively than government aid and secular NGOs:
On average, people from countries that had one more Protestant missionary per 10,000 inhabitants 90 years ago currently have 1.5 years more education and 1.3 years more life expectancy. Continue Reading...

Fr. Robert Sirico presented the Acton Institute’s 2018 Novak Award to Brazilian professor Lucas G. Freire on Monday, November 5. Freire’s acceptance speech offered reflections on the “idolatrous distortions” evidenced in modern public discourse by placing too much trust in the state, and too little faith in markets and individuals. Continue Reading...

On October 17, Rev. Timothy Keller delivered a keynote speech to a sold-out audience at the Acton Institute’s 2018 Annual Dinner. In his address, Keller explains the concepts of “traditional identity” and “modern identity” and their prevalence in present-day culture. Continue Reading...

A new study confirms that creeping tribalism has Americans bitterly divided, acrimonious, and dismissive of others based on political differences. Behind this animosity lies a spiritual principle that Rev. Timothy Keller touched on during his address at this year’s Acton Institute annual dinner. Continue Reading...

This is a guest post for the Acton PowerBlog
By Kevin Brown
Imagine asking a diverse group of rich, poor, attractive, unattractive, intelligent, unintelligent, white, non-white, educated, and non-educated — what makes a society just. Continue Reading...

Father Paulo Ricardo is a very sympathetic man. Always smiling, he is tall, thin, and balding. His austere appearance reminds us of priests portrayed in the films of the 1960s. Father Paulo could easily pretend to be Dom Camilo, the wise Italian priest created by Giovannino Guareschi and immortalized in the cinema by the brilliant French actor Fernandel. Continue Reading...

The term “social justice” has a richly developed history in Christian thought, with application for every level of society. However, activists with less-than-heavenly aims have invoked the phrase to justify their activism, from Fr. Continue Reading...

“This is what I have observed to be good,” the Preacher says, “that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot” (Ecclesiastes 5:18 [NIV]). Continue Reading...

Corey Robin, professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, wrote an interesting and troubling piece last week in the New York Times titled, “The New Socialists: Why the pitch from Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders resonates in 2018.” It is part chronicle of the recent rise of self-identified socialist politicians in the United States and part meditation on what people in 2018 mean when they talk about socialism. Continue Reading...